The American journal of cardiology
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Mild therapeutic hypothermia (TH) is an established therapy to improve survival and reduce neurologic injury after cardiac arrest. Adult patients with congenital heart disease (ACHD) are at increased risk of sudden cardiac death. The use of TH in this population has not been extensively studied. ⋯ All 5 patients suffered cardiac arrest due to ventricular arrhythmia and all survived to discharge without significant neurologic impairment. Therapeutic interventions included anomalous left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery ligation, percutaneous coronary intervention, and defibrillator implantation. In conclusion, in 5 patients with ACHD, the use of TH after cardiac arrest resulted in 100% survival to hospital discharge with good neurologic outcome postresuscitation.
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Injection drug users (IDUs) account for a considerable number of the hospitalizations for infective endocarditis (IE), but the prevalence of diagnosed and unrecognized IE in IDUs is unknown. The aim of the present study was to assess the prevalence of valvular abnormalities suggestive of IE in IDUs attending a supervised injection facility. We performed transthoracic echocardiographic examinations on-site in the injection facilities. ⋯ Thus, in IDUs without a history of IE, some extent of valvular abnormalities was seen in 20% (39 of 192, 95% CI 15% to 27%) of subjects. None of the IDUs with valvular vegetations had current symptoms consistent with active IE. In conclusion, valvular abnormalities assessed by echocardiography were prevalent in asymptomatic IDUs without a medical history of IE, and vegetations were seen in 5% of subjects.
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Fetal aortic balloon valvuloplasty (FAV) has shown promise in averting progression of midgestation aortic stenosis (AS) to hypoplastic left heart syndrome in a subset of patients. Patients who achieve biventricular circulation after FAV frequently have left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction (DD). This study evaluates DD in fetuses with AS by comparing echocardiographic indices of LV diastolic function in fetuses underwent FAV (n = 20) with controls (n = 40) and evaluates for LV factors associated with DD in patients with FAV. ⋯ Post-FAV, fewer patients had fused mitral inflow E and A than pre-FAV (p = 0.05) and septal E' was higher (=0.04). In conclusion, fetuses with midgestation AS have evidence of marked DD. Worse DD is associated with larger, more spherical LV, with more extensive endocardial fibroelastosis and lower LV pressure.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Effect of one-cycle remote ischemic preconditioning to reduce myocardial injury during percutaneous coronary intervention.
Up to 1/3 of percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) are complicated by troponin release. Remote ischemic preconditioning (IPC) confers effective cardioprotection; however, a 30-minute remote IPC protocol may be difficult to implement during ad hoc PCI. This study was performed to assess the ability of a brief remote IPC protocol to attenuate cardiac troponin I (cTnI) release after ad hoc PCI. ⋯ The incidence of PCI-related myocardial infarction (MI) was greater in the control group (42.6% vs 19.1%, p = 0.014). In multivariate analysis, remote IPC was independently associated with ΔcTnI and PCI-related MI. In conclusion, our results suggest that even 1 cycle of remote IPC immediately before ad hoc PCI attenuates periprocedural cTnI release and reduces the incidence of type 4a MI.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Efficacy, safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetic profile of evacetrapib administered as monotherapy or in combination with atorvastatin in Japanese patients with dyslipidemia.
The cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) inhibitor evacetrapib has been previously shown to increase high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and decrease low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels, as monotherapy or in combination with statins. In this study, 165 Japanese patients with elevated LDL-C or low HDL-C levels were randomly assigned to receive placebo, evacetrapib monotherapy 30 mg, 100 mg, or 500 mg, atorvastatin 10 mg, or evacetrapib 100 mg in combination with atorvastatin 10 mg. After 12 weeks, evacetrapib monotherapy increased HDL-C levels by 74%, 115%, and 136% and decreased LDL-C levels by 15%, 23%, and 22% and CETP activity by 50%, 83%, and 95% (for the 30-mg, 100-mg, and 500-mg dose groups, respectively) versus placebo. ⋯ Evacetrapib monotherapy or in combination with atorvastatin was not likely to be associated with any significant change in blood pressure and did not have any adverse effects on mineralocorticoid or glucocorticoid measures. Notably, plasma evacetrapib concentrations were mostly undetectable, and all pharmacodynamic biomarkers (HDL-C and LDL-C levels and CETP mass and activity) returned to baseline after a 4- to 6-week washout. In conclusion, evacetrapib as monotherapy or in combination with atorvastatin effectively decreased CETP activity and LDL-C levels and increased HDL-C levels after 12 weeks in Japanese patients with dyslipidemia.